Fast Break: Warriors wallop punchless Celtics

As the Warriors’ lead ballooned to 30 by the end of the third quarter, Celtics fans grew restless at the Garden. They chanted “Let’s go Tupac” after a lookalike of the rapper appeared on the Jumbotron, and then followed with a “Scal-a-bri-ne” chorus for old time’s sake (Brian Scalabrine is now an assistant coach on Mark Jackson‘s staff).

Indeed, the season has come to this. Golden State delivered a 108-88 knockout blow that felt even worse, and the Celtics (20-41) held onto the NBA’s fourth-worst record. (Might as well plug the latest weekly NBA Draft Watch.)

Turnovers: After Andre Iguodola‘s block of Jeff Green led to a rare two-handed Stephen Curry dunk midway through the first quarter, the Celtics threw two straight passes to the Warriors that would have become three consecutive fast-breaks dunks had it not been for an even more rare Kris Humphries chase-down block. The turnovers kept on coming, reaching a dozen by halftime, when the Warriors owned a 61-40 lead.

General apathy: One second-quarter possession pretty much summed up what turned out to be one of the most lackluster performances of this lackluster Celtics season. In the span of 16 seconds, Jerryd Bayless missed a layup, Draymond Green blocked Kelly Olynyk‘s layup and Jermaine O’Neal (yes, that guy) blocked Kris Humphries‘ layup. For those of you counting at home, that’s three straight misses at the rim. By the end of the third quarter, the Celtics had 17 field goals and 17 turnovers. And trailed 84-54. Oh, it was ugly.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Pump up the Bass: As the trade deadline passed and he somewhat surprisingly remained in a Celtics uniform, Bass continues to go about his business. When this game was still a game — somewhere early in the first quarter — Bass had four points and four rebounds as one of the few C’s who seemed interested in playing basketball.

Technical KO: After missing two games with a toe injury, Olynyk returned for the first time since amassing 21 points, eight rebounds and four assists against the Jazz on Feb. 24. He once again led the C’s scoring effort.

Kiwi surprise: The Celtics granted 12-year-old New Zealander Louis Corbett‘s wish of seeing his favorite basketball team before he loses his sight to retinitis pigmentosa. He met Rondo and other before the game, sat next to the C’s bench and was honored at halfcourt during the first TV timeout.